Mattel and
Integrity Toys both offer (or have offered) basic edition 12" fashion dolls in the $20 price range. While Integrity looks like it might have phased out the ITBE dolls (there were no new releases in 2011 or 2102), there are still a few of the older dolls to be found at various doll shops, and I thought it would be fun to do a comparison review of these two very similar dolls.
Barbie Basics were first released in spring of 2010. The original line included 12 dolls, all wearing a different simple black dress. I thought the promotional pictures for this line were awesome. Subsequent releases have included some dolls wearing red dresses (exclusive to Target), dolls modeling jeans and tee shirts, and, most recently, a small collection of dolls sporting swimsuits.
Integrity released their ITBE line in 2009. The original collection had 6 dolls modeling a diversity of dress styles in an array of colors with no apparent unifying theme. The second collection, "Roma 2010," has only 5 dolls and features fashions inspired by friends traveling together to Rome.
I wanted to compare two dolls that resembled each other in terms of hair, coloring and outfit, so rather than choosing my favorite dolls from these lines, I selected Barbie Basic Model 09 (from the first collection) and the ITBE Roma doll "Desirable" from 2010. Both dolls are caucasian with blonde hair and bangs, and both are wearing little black dresses.
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ITBE Desirable and Barbie Basic Model 09 |